Blondie Strikes Back?
by GYRAX
Summary: After being more aware of how rampant the Narubashings are, and how relentless they become, Narusegawa Naru finally has it and snaps. It's up to Keitaro and the others to try to bring her back to normal, before she does the unthinkable. Enter if you dare.
1. Ten Thousand Fists

Note: I do not own Love Hina, or any other intellectual properties. They are all copyrights of their respectful owners. The rest, however, is MINE, BEE-YOTCHES!

After being more aware of how rampant the Naru-bashings are, and how relentless they become, Narusegawa Naru finally has it and snaps. It's up to Keitaro and the others to try and bring her back to normal, before she does the unimaginable.

After reading those fics where Keitaro goes to the dark side because of the countless beatings, I thought it was about time the shoe went on the other foot, and Naru went on an angst trip of her own because of the Naru bashings already present.

* * *

GYRAX Presents…

_Blondie Strikes Back?_

Chapter 1: _Ten Thousand Fists_

* * *

"Damn email!" Naru shouted as she deleted yet another batch of junk mail. "My inbox is getting more and more of this spam every day! I'm gonna flip!" Naru put down her laptop and stormed downstairs to the kitchen. It was lunchtime, and she just wanted to get the spam problem off of her mind.

She went to the dining room and sat down on the seat across from Keitaro, her face clearly showing her annoyance. She wants it to just go, but something just won't let it be. Naru wondered why this problem would not just go away, while at the same time, was expressing the pure frustration of not being able to just take the ugly porcelain poodle off of the dresser and just throwing it out the window because it may have a high collector's value. She sat at her seat, her face red with anger.

Keitaro was thinking of a way to ask her what the problem is without provoking her. Knowing her very well, that may prove to be quite difficult. All the manager could do at the moment was sit there, wondering what Naru's problem was. Men and women were never able to fully understand one another, no matter how hard they try and no matter how much they think they can. All Keitaro wanted to do as he looked at her was try to help, but staring at her too long may also provoke her, so he looked away to avoid a confrontation. Not that Naru was always a ticking time bomb that would explode and take out the whole building if a pin dropped on it, but her mood said, "back off and give me space, Keitaro".

Just then, Kitsune walked into the dining room to take a seat to Naru's immediate left. The fox woman looked at her and quickly noticed her look of antagonism. "What's with the pouty face, huh Naru?"

Naru's voice then practically exploded in volume. "It's those Goddamn spammers again! It used to be just anonymously sent in advertisements about penis enlargement like I'M NOT A GIRL, but then it got worse. I suddenly started getting this ridiculous stream of messages from people saying some dramatic speech about how bad I am or something. Over the past few weeks, the number of messages increased, and became increasingly aggressive. And by God, they need to seriously check their spelling! Their grammar isn't going to win an essay contests either. Their syntax is God-awful. And it just doesn't stop, either!"

"Don't worry about that. Just pretend you're rubber and they're glue."

"I am. I marked just about all of those addresses as spam. I don't even read them anymore because the senders are dumb enough to think I'll forget the title of the message and read it. It was all good for a few days, but then it just got worse again. It's not that I'm depressed or anything of that sort. It's just that it's starting to grate on my nerves."

"How did so many people get hold of your e-mail address?"

"Don't know. I'm still thinking bout that. Actually, I'm considering asking the guys over at my homepage to take out my email address and give me a new one."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"Was it something you did?" Keitaro added.

"Of course not!" Naru snapped.

"Calm down! I was just asking why so many people would go through the lengths just to say all of that to you. Why would they even want to?"

"Don't ask me. I obviously don't know."

"So, you're talking about that email thing again?" Motoko just interrupted the conversation, as she strolled into the dining room and sat at the seat to Naru's right. "I felt some bad vibes coming from this room, so I went to investigate. True, it is starting to get obnoxious. The real problem is that it doesn't stop there. Yesterday, while I was walking home with her, a few guys gave her some really apprehensive glares, maybe even vicious in nature." She paused for a moment. "Maybe these are the same guys that gave her the emails."

"But that would only be a few guys though." Keitaro replied.

"Maybe these guys are using several different email addresses to send her those messages." Kitsune added. "Or that there are even more people out there that would probably give her the same looks."

"Let's hope it's not the latter." Motoko remarked.

"Pleas stop it." Shinobu spoke. She was standing behind Naru with her hands close to her chest. "This is making me feel bad."

"Well, she is right about one thing." Keitaro said. "This talk is really starting to bring some gloom into the house. Let's just forget about that."

"I'm starving anyway." Naru said.

"I guess everyone else is already here." Shinobu said. "I just need to get Su. I'll be back." She left the dining room in quite a casual manner.

"It's mail day, isn't it Naru?" Keitaro suddenly added.

"Yeah. Why?"

"…" Keitaro sat in silence for a moment. After a little thought, he opened his mouth to speak. "Never mind…" He kind of fell off after that word, like he intended to let something out, but didn't want to or it would cause some real damage to the household.

(O)

A mailman approached the dormitory with great trepidation; the place has death written all over it, and if you got near it, you might end up in crossfire of some kind, and may get into some real deep trouble, but this was his job, and he had to do it. He was holding a parcel in his right hand, ready to throw it. He cocked his arm back, ready to chuck it as hard and as far a he could, but then someone was coming. At the thought of having to confront one of the demon girls that resides in there, he just dropped the package and ran.

Keitaro came walking down the stairs to retrieve the mail that fell on the floor, not even phased by the mailman's reaction; he got used to it, now. He picked up the envelopes off the floor, but he also came across the parcel. He picked it up and took a good look at it; no one at the dorm was expecting a package, unless maybe it was another doohickey for Su. He put his ear to it, just to see if it was a bomb of some kind; one can never be too careful. He did not hear any ticking, so it was perfectly okay by him. He took it, as well as the envelopes, up the steps with him.

(O)

"Mail's here!" Su exclaimed, after she saw Keitaro tread through the house's front doorway. She took a look at the mail Keitaro was holding and quickly noticed the package. "Is that for me?"

"I was going to ask you that?" Keitaro answered. Without second thought, Su swiped the package from him and opened up in quite an animalistic manner, like a dog was opening it up and not a human; she even tore up the Styrofoam in the box. What she took out kind of surprised her; it appeared to be a black videocassette.

"What's this?" Su asked, as she was examining the contents of the little black box.

"Give it to me," Keitaro ordered. Su complied and handed the object over to him. Keitaro looked for a VCR to put it in. He went up to the living room and put the tape in a VCR just below the TV set. The object slid into the VCR's slot smoothly and slowly. The manager changed the channel to three and pressed play. He and Su had to wait a few seconds as they heard the small mechanical whirring sounds and clicking; the final whirr signaled them that the tape was about to play. The two watched closely as the blue screen suddenly turned into an image.

Kitsune entered the living room, in hopes of being able to catch her new favorite TV show; she had a bottle of sake in her right hand. What else was new?

What was different, however, was the fact that Kitsune's quality time was cut short when she found out that Keitaro and Su were using the TV at this time, and that they were also using the VCR. Keitaro noticed her standing there with a dumb look in her face and put the tape on pause; a small pulling sound in the VCR indicated that the tape was paused and a still image was now laced on the TV.

"What is it, Kitsune?" Keitaro asked, hoping in vain to get a decent answer.

"You're hogging the TV." Kitsune pouted as an answer. Her whining was cut surprisingly short when she saw the image on the TV. "Wait a second." She looked at the TV even closer. "That's our house. Were you making a home video?"

"No. This is a video sent to us by mail."

"Interesting. Now who would want to tape little old us?"

"Don't know." Keitaro went back to press play and the image on the TV began to move. The video displayed on screen was just the Hinata House, but the camera was being a bit shaky; whoever was holding it must have been nervous for some reason. There was practically no sound in the video, either, so it was all dead silence and seemingly just one man taping the Hinata House just sitting there. The silence from the TV became contagious and spread all over the living room; Keitaro and the others were dead silent as they were focusing harder on the video, hoping to spot something.

"This is boring!" Kitsune complained, breaking off the silence in a heartbeat. "I'm missing my favorite TV show."

"Hold on a little more, Kitsune." Keitaro replied as he turned to look at her. That was when he noticed something. "Isn't that an expensive brand of sake you're holding?"

"Yeah. So, what of it?"

"Who'd you con, Bill Gates?"

"Don't kid yourself. But I'm not telling you how I got to afford this."

"Right." Keitaro sighed. Then, they heard something on the TV. They quickly turned to see that on the video, the Hinata House has received a huge hole, courtesy of our favorite landlord. Keitaro rewound it and played that last two seconds again. He saw himself flying straight out of the house like a cruise missile gone out of control. "The guy just wanted to tape me being tossed-"

He was cut off by what sounded like a male voice on the TV. "She hit him!" The camera was shaking more violently than ever and the man holding it was now running down the endless flight of stairs. He continues speaking as he ran down, words and sentences breaking off because of the panting. "The beast…has stricken…I'm going to asses the damage dealt…to Urashima-san…. She really is…a monster." The panting continued even after he ran down the stairs and found Keitaro, lying on the pavement. Suddenly the video showed a semi running over him, followed by two more cars, a Hummer, and a runaway goat.

Keitaro saw this like it never happened to him.

The man holding the camera was catching his breath while the camera was aimed at the concrete that he was standing on. His shoes could be seen; they looked like black and white Converse sneakers. The man spoke, still catching all the breath that he could. "She doesn't…know this, does she? It's not…like she would care…anyway… If she receives this tape, then I have one thing to say to her…"

"Stop the tape, Su." Keitaro said. Su complied and pressed stop.

"It's about damn time!" Kitsune said. "Now I have the TV!" WOO-HOO!"

"Actually Kitsune, you are not to touch the TV while I'm gone."

"Why not?"

"Because Naru has to see this." And with that, Keitaro left and headed towards Naru's room.

(O)

"Naru should at least report this to the police and file a restraining order on someone." Keitaro said to himself as he was going up the steps and into the third floor. "What is the deal with these guys anyway? Just what do they hope to accomplish by stalking her and throwing all this crap at her? Do they want to change her?" He approached Naru's room. "And do I really look like that when I fly out of the Hinata House? I looked like a total jackass!" He was scratching his head furiously. The embarrassment was washing over him like a pail of water that was dumped over his head.

The door opened. Naru popped her head out, and she looked at Keitaro. When she saw him in his frustrated position, she tried not to laugh. "So what's up?"

Keitaro quickly turned from his comical anger pose to a dead serious mood. He quickly stared at her in the eyes. "Naru, you need to se something."

"Ok…" Naru trailed off at the "k"; Keitaro's sudden change in overtone surprised her for a second. The manager left and headed downstairs. Naru had to follow suit, to see what got him so concerned, and what forced him to change his mood so quickly. She also headed down the steps.

(O)

They went to the living room, only to see Kitsune watching her favorite show on TV. This got the manager irritated.

"Kitsune! Don't touch the TV!"

"It's a rerun, anyway." Kitsune walked a few feet away from the Television set. Keitaro approached it, changed it to channel three, turned on the VCR and pressed play. Naru could only watch in confusion. What is it that Keitaro wanted her to see? What made him revert to such a serious mood? Whatever it was, it was in that VCR, and it was about to play.

Naru focused all of her senses on the TV as the video was back on play. The voice of the man holding the camera from the video began to speak again. "If she receives this tape, then I have one thing to say to her…" He was still panting, but he was catching more breath, so the panting was not as frequent. He held one of the most ominous and longest ten second pauses the Hinata Housers ever had to go through. By this time, Motoko and Shinobu also joined in and started watching.

The man in the video finally spoke after the suspense virtually killed off most of the tenants. "I will pray to God for the day that you get what you deserve, bitch! You attack without any provocation, without any REAL reason! You make your own excuses and create the most frivolous motives for your transgressions and carry them out without second thought or a conscience, and look at the damage you cause! You don't even realize what you do to these people do you? It's not like you care, because you fulfilled your own false goals and you're just satisfied with your own objectives! What the hell kind of human would deal this kind of pain just from an accident? YOU'RE NOT EVEN HUMAN-" The video suddenly turned to just the TV "snow", indicating that the recording has officially terminated, and quite early, because they tenants did not get a chance to get the whole speech, but they definitely got the idea.

"Was that why you lead me down here, to put me on a guilt trip?" Naru asked, suspecting Keitaro right away.

"No. I wanted to tell you that whoever is out there, you need to file a damn restraining order on him! NARU, THIS IS GETTING FREAKING OUT OF CONTROL!" Keitaro again was scratching his head in frustration.

"The batteries on his camcorder must've run out." Kitsune said, pointing out the obvious.

"Good." Motoko replied. "I couldn't stand any more of that rubbish. Let's just get out of here."

"Don't get too uptight about this, Keitaro." Naru said. "I don't need any damn restraining order. I have everything under control."

"You sure abut that?"

"Yes. I'm definitely sure. So don't get your ass jacked up about it. Trust me; it's all under control." She left the living room and headed upstairs.

"I hope to God you're right." Keitaro watched her leave, thoughts started dancing in his head. They formed a macabre ballet of possibilities about how much worse things would get and what future would be in store with Naru if this invisible squabble escalates into a full on conflict with whatever force was holding grudge against her. As the ballet dragged on within the confines of his mind, he grew more and more tense, as the dance started to advance into what seemed like the climax. He shut it all out of his head to close the performance short.

Even Su saw that Keitaro was not being his usual self today.

"You're not acting normal, Keitaro." Kitsune said.

"This is a problem, damn it!" Keitaro threw the others into a split-second shock. "I've seen cases like this before! They usually end with a serial killer coming in and stabbing you in the ass! Damn it! I don't want a serial killer to stab Naru in the ass!"

"That isn't going to happen." Motoko said, sighing in embarrassment for our strange-acting manager. "Rest assure, you have us to take care of things for you. Don't be such a tightwad; it isn't you."

Keitaro could only sigh in defeat and try to relax. Thoughts still have not gotten out of his head yet, so of course he was still a bit tense about this scenario. He was trying so hard to reassure himself that indeed things were okay here, but the feeling that something was wrong was just so much stronger. He sat down on a chair and started watching TV in attempt to get it all out of his head and just forget about it like it never happened at all.

(O)

Naru was walking up the steps to the third floor. Naru could not stand this situation right now, so she just wanted to go to her room, lie on her futon, and think it over. Since she had that planned out, she gave herself the okay to just go to her room. She opened her door, entered the room, and shut the door behind her quite firmly.

Naru jumped straight on to the futon. She hugged her pillow and bore her face in it; she put herself very deep in thought. Maybe she should agree with Keitaro and put a restraining order or something. Then again, she always had her own methods of dealing with stalkers, but that would just encourage the guy to keep blabbing on what a "monster" she is.

She closed her eyes so she could better focus on the scenario at hand. She realized then that maybe her signature monster punch was _not_ the answer this time. She began to search for a more logical, and cleverer answer to end the problem. At the same time, she was wondering who the guy behind the camera was. All she knew was that his voice was kind of girly for a man and that he wore blue denim jeans and black and white Converse sneakers. Then, out of nowhere, a shocking revelation virtually electrocuted Naru in the heart. It was a theory that hit her on the head like a brick that fell from the sky; she had just one guess of who was responsible for this, but it was enough to throw her off of the futon and launch her down the steps.

(O)

"Shinobu?" Keitaro asked, as he just entered the kitchen. "What's for dinner tonight?"

"Not sure. I was so fixated on the video tape that I forgot all about dinner. I'll have to think on the fly."

"Think, Shinobu! Think!" Su demanded, as she already started growing increasingly hungry. "Think, Shinobu! Think!"

"Calm down, Su!" Shinobu retorted, irritated over Su's impatience. "Maybe Beef Sukiyaki?" Suddenly, they heard a loud thud on the floor.

**BAM!**

The thump was loud enough to make everything else silent, as the tenants were forced to stop doing anything and see where the sound came from. It was not long until they figured out that Naru actually jumped down the stairs and landed on her feet, but she landed hard, creating a great earsplitting sound that resonated throughout the first floor of the Hinata House.

The first thing Naru did after she jumped down the steps, was give Keitaro the most furious, angriest demonic glare that she could possibly make. Whatever was wrong with her, Keitaro was for some reason the source of the problem. That, the tenants figured out quickly, so the rest of the girls looked at Keitaro accusingly, wondering what he could have possibly done to infuriate Naru this way.

Their answer came to them in no time flat.

"KEITARO! IT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Naru roared furiously.

"What are you talking about?" Keitaro asked, now really intimidated by her outburst; it practically rendered him motionless.

"DON'T PLAY DUMB! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO STARTED THIS WHOLE AFFAIR! YOU'RE THE REASON WHY EVERYONE'S STALKING ME! YOU TOLD THEM THIS BULLSHIT ABOUT ME!"

"Is that true, Urashima?" Motoko asked.

"No." It was all the manager wanted to say.

"DON'T LIE, KEITARO! YOU COULDN'T WITHSTAND ANYTHING AS SIMPLE AS A PUNISHMENT, SO YOU RESORTED TO REBELLION! IS THAT IT?"

Kitsune only kept quiet through the whole thing, thinking about Naru's outburst. Sure, she gets pretty angry, but not on this scale.

"What the hell do you mean?" Keitaro replied. "I thought the matter didn't bother you!"

"NOT BEFORE I FIGURED IT ALL OUT! KEITARO, AFTER ALL WE'VE DONE, **YOU WENT AND BETRAYED ME!**" Naru geared up and readied her steel fist for a massive assault. "**DIPSHIT!**" She socked him right on the cheek, practically firing him straight out of the foyer and straight into the front porch, but Keitaro suddenly crashed into a crowd of people, who happened to be stationed in front of the building; the people helped slow down his fall, so he only landed in the middle of the "endless" flight of steps. The crowd looked at the lying mound of flesh that was Keitaro and looked back at Naru, who was now standing in front of the apartment complex.

Naru only wondered what was going on here. Why would a small crowd of people visit the Hinata House? She asked, as was natural. "You guys want something?"

"You're Narusegawa Naru right?" A brunette with her hair in two ponytails inquired.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Apologize to him, now. You had no reason to hurt him like that."

"He's the one who brought that stupid stalker over to my house!"

"Actually, _I_ started it." The other girl said back to her. "That was my boyfriend who recorded that footage, and it was ME who sent that tape to you. You didn't see it, did you?"

"Yeah, I saw it, but that speech was total fabrication. I merely punished him for his actions. He needs to learn not to try anything that pornographic."

"YOU'RE DENSE!" The girl's glasses were reflecting from the sunlight, attaining a demonic glow from it. "You have the mental capacity of a retarded squirrel hopped up on smack!"

"Who are you calling dense?" Naru was obviously insulted by her remark. "It was merely a defensive mechanism."

"Punishment or self-defense?"

"He did something perverted, so there is to be retribution."

"I say it's none of the above. No one deserves that kind of punishment. NO ONE! Are you even human?"

"Of course I am." Naru was getting increasingly frustrated. "Humans do this to others all the time. Why am I so special?"

"Special?" The girl chuckled bitterly, the demon light still reflecting from her glasses. "You're different because of how monstrously powerful you are. That kind of strength isn't human. And you continuously use it on him, like he's your punching bag. I say you take _enjoyment _in obliterating this man from the inside, as well as out."

"Enjoy it? What do you take me for?"

"A MONSTER! Not only do you deal punishment physically, but you also play with his emotions! You pretend you actually care for him, but once he gets in close enough, you spring out your trap and kick him in the teeth! Either that, or you just dis him. Face it: you're an abuser! Add to it your power isn't even human. You can't be after all the shit you've done to him!"

"You're after me because I'm different? Because I'm a little stronger than your average man doesn't make me a monster! That's just hatred of something because you fear it, and you fear it because you don't understand! And I'm not one to hurt Keitaro without provocation!"

"From the looks of it, you _are_. And don't tell us what we do or do not understand. If anything, _you _don't understand what's going on here! You don't understand Urashima-san's feelings at all do you? You don't feel any remorse for the pain that you deal to him! You don't care how much you hurt him, as long as your sick objectives are complete, you're satisfied. Nothing more, nothing less! You don't know nor do you care what he has to go through!"

At this time, Keitaro walked up the steps to witness what was happening at the top of the steps. He saw the crowd standing around Naru. He was behind them, but he could sense their hostility towards her; it was glowing a brilliant scarlet. He was able to hear what was being said. He was sympathetic seeing Naru in her state, but at the same time was also surprised that someone was actually defending him. The feeling of satisfaction from knowing this, and the side of him that wants to help out Naru were now engaged in a dogfight with one another, and it grew fierce all too quickly.

A man stood beside the four-eyed girl. "I'm surprised he didn't go apeshit on you yet."

After he heard that, Keitaro froze in his tracks. Naru was also stunned from this. Would our kind manager go crazy on her one day, suddenly betraying her, and leaving the Hinata residents for dead?

"That further proves how ungrateful you are." The girl in glasses continued. "He was just trying to keep things in check, I bet, and you had to complicate things for him. I hope he's just playing around with you, and when the time comes, he turns on you, like you always did to him God knows how many damn times!"

Another chord was struck in Naru's nervous system, and this one made a nice and long vibration. Her fear that Keitaro might hurt her back has now intensified a hundred fold. Her emotions have now gone out of control, causing her mind to reach a nuclear meltdown, but not quite there yet. However, she still knew one thing that would reassure her. "Keitaro isn't like that. You should know damn well he's a happy-go-lucky kind of person. He would never become the monster you hope to be."

Keitaro took this into account. He was hoping that would end the little squabble.

"After going through the crap he did," the girl replied. "Any guy would. Men have short tempers, and his just might be running short. He should break up with you now, actually. I wonder why anyone would _ever_ love you!"

That was it. Her mind finally reached meltdown. And with a force greater than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings combined, Naru's rage exploded in a brilliant crimson mushroom cloud, as she shouted just a couple more sentences to end it all.

"**I HAVE JUST ABOUT FUCKING HAD IT WITH YOU! WHY DON'T YOU LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE?**"

To be continued

* * *

On the Next Blondie Strikes Back…

_Communicability_

How did it get down to this? Let us turn the hands of time back a few revolutions. Let us travel back seven days, where the bashings first started. Watch it spread throughout Hinata faster than a shockwave, like an atom bomb was dropped in the center of the town.

-GYRAX


	2. Communicability

Note: I do not own Love Hina, or any other intellectual properties. They are all copyrights of their respectful owners. The rest, however, is MINE, BEE-YOTCHES!

* * *

GYRAX Presents…

_Blondie Strikes Back!_

Chapter 2: _Communicability_

* * *

Naru just stood there.

It was an empty room with only one window, and it was to her right. The walls were made of wood, seemingly the same wood that the floor was made of. The roof was also made of wood, and it hung high over her head. The room had no furniture; it was literally empty. Directly in front of her was a door; it had to be the way out. Naru, however, felt like something would happen if she opened the door and walked out of the room, it sent chills running down her spine. She decided to stay in; staying secure in a room where you're the only one in was a no-brainer for her.

Then, the door opened. A bright light shone from the door, like the sun was on the other side of it. She still did not want to move from the spot she stood at; she felt threatened by the light. What was on the other side of it? Whatever it was, she did not want to find out; it could hurt her. She stood still, just looking at the light at the other side of the door, feeling threatened by the outside world, if there was one out there.

Suddenly, an eye opened up on one of the walls, at Naru's right. Naru was shocked instantly from taking a gander at the anomaly. Even more frightening was the fact that it was staring directly at her, without even blinking for a second. That was not the end of it, however. More eyes were opening; they were just appearing everywhere. Not only on the wall to Naru's right, but also on her left, in front of her, and behind they did appear. There were even eyes staring at her from the ceiling. They were everywhere but the floor she was standing on.

Naru was now from shocked to horrified. She was rendered utterly motionless, forcing herself to just look down onto the floor, and at her own two feet. Panic overtook her, even keeping her from moving her lips; she could not even use her vocal cords; she was paralyzed all over. She was not sure about what this meant, or what was going to happen to her next, but she did _not_ want to know what the future had in store for her, nor did she even want the future to even come; being aware of the fact that it was just inevitable frightened her even more.

But now she had a choice: she was to either stay here and wait for something to happen, or she was to venture into the outside world. Either way, she did not know what would happen to her, and the future seemed uncertain. She felt threatened by what was in store outside, so she decided to stay, because she felt better staying in a place that she knew of. Unfortunately, the place she knew also began to turn threatening. Every second she stood still, the eyes stared at her more accusingly. Though she was able to sense their hostility, Naru still did not wish to leave. She stood motionless except she was turning her head, looking at the eyes, which were staring at her back. Every second they grew more and more fierce, and Naru was aware of their growing bloodthirstyness. Time progressed, but Naru did not move her feet, not even a millimeter.

The accusing eyes, however, began to change themselves; the former blue eyes now began to change to a more reddish color, showing their viciousness more physically. All the while, Naru's own eyes widened. Then, all of a sudden, Naru turned impulsive. She screamed.

"**LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!**"

* * *

Naru raised her right fist high into the air. With the might of a thunderbolt from on high, Naru slammed it into the ground, channeling all of her emotions. Her hatred, her angst, her passion, have all powered her fist to unimaginable new levels. The impact from the attack sent shockwaves resonating throughout the Hinata House's front yard. Cracks ran through the concrete like snakes wondering around, searching for prey.

The crowd goers freaked out and dispersed, making sure they got out of the way before the cracks reached them. They did not know that they practically cleared the way. Naru, however, saw this as an opportunity, and before you can say "carpe diem", she ran right through the crowd and dashed down the flight of stairs. Keitaro and the others attempted to catch up with her, but they quickly realized that she was running at a superhuman speed. Astonished, they had no choice but to stop at the top of the staircase.

"Damn! She can run!" Kitsune exclaimed. She never saw this side of Naru before in her life, despite being her best friend since high school. Sure, she got angry every now and then, and it even turned violent, but this was an expression that one would not see in Naru. It seemed to her that what Naru felt was not the usual pervert-bashing anger produced from embarrassment, but pure primal rage with a possible sprinkle of agony.

A powerful feeling of regret and resentfulness filled the depths of Kitsune soul as she took witness to the after effects of Naru's monstrous outburst. She just realized the damages she dealt, cracks all over the concrete and a crowd stunned. She looked down on to the floor and she sliently muttered.

"Oh shit..."

"Something wrong, Kitsune?" Motoko approached her with a look of concern on her face, as if she caught some of the fox's lament.

"I'm just fine, Motoko. Don't worry about me." Kitsune had on her "all's well" mask, but the samurai could easily see that it was on crooked.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I said I'm fine, didn't I? So that means I'm fine, right?"

"If you say so." Naturally, Motoko stayed concerned; Kitsune was not acting normal.

"It's all my fault..." Shinobu muttered from the background. Keitaro, however, managed to catch every word swiftly.

The manager decided to investigate and see what had Shinobu at a vice grip. "Something wrong?"

"It's all my fault." The young girl balled her right hand into a fist and held it close to her chest while looking down on the floor in shame. "I'm the reason why Naru's so miserable. I'm the one who started all of this. It's _my_ damn fault."

"Don't be rediculous. Why would you ever think that?"

"I told them..."

"Excuse me?"

"I told everyone about Naru-sempai. They wanted to know so badly, and I had no choice but to spill it out."

"What are you talking about?"

Kitsune could not help but listen, as it already sparked her interest from the beginning. However, with a small feeling of relief came another overwhelming sense of guilt. Why was _Shinobu_ confessing?

Shinobu mustered up what was left of her inner strength to look up at Keitaro. The manager was pushed back by the powerful sense of remorse practically emitting from Shinobu like a strong aura.

"Shinobu?"

"I told them everything about this. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. It's just that I was under too much pressure."

"Pressure?"

"It all started a week ago during Math class."

Keitaro lent his ears; he needed to find out what was wrong with Shinobu, and why she kept saying that she was under pressure.

Kitsune could hardly believe how deep this really went...

* * *

The bell was about to ring.

Shinobu sat alone in her seat; Akiko was absent and Su has not come in yet. She was pretty much not in the mood to talk to anyone else. Without anything to keep her occupied at the moment, she looked around, listening to every conversation between the various students. Her ears were assaulted by a barrage of gossip and infromation, mixed around because every word from each conversation was mixed around like when someone was shaking a bag of different colored gumballs. She looked at the doorway and still, Su was not there.

_Is she late?_ She thought. She began to worry about her, as was natural. She did not want her best friend to be late and, god forbid, get a slap on the wrist; she cared about her too much to let that happen. She continued listening to the gossiping voices and various other sounds around her, but then something peaked her interest.

"I saw him flying across town again," It was what a female voice to her right said. Shinobu picked it up word for word and she let it in to stay; she sighed. Since Naru kept sending the poor man to orit, Shinobu got a bit angrier, hoping someday Naru would actually stop and think for a second.

"Naru-sempai made a ruckus again. At this rate, she'll be in a freak show, or even worse --- Jerry Springer!" She pushed hard and tried to bulldoze those thoughts out of her head. Little did she know, she spoke loud enough to catch the interests of the conversing students next to her.

They turned their heads towards Shinobu, hoping that they heard that correctly. Just to clarify things, a young girl with long brown hair and green eyes walked towards her. She put her right hand on Shinobu's desk and leaned a bit forward, so that she'll make sure that what she said would be nice and clear.

"Something up, Shinobu?"

Shinobu snapped out of what seemed like a trance and looked up at her classmate. She looked directly at her eyes and noticed a sly grin corssing her face. Right off the bat, Shinobu recognized her features; she has been in class with her ever since she first came to her school.

"Unagi?"

"Hey there, Shinobu-chan!" The girl, apparently named Unagi Kanehara, greeted her with sunshine enthusiasm. "What's getting your goat?"

"Nothing..." Shinobu hung her head low and stared at her desk afterwards, aware of the fact that she talked to herself a bit too loudly, and someone else caught on to what she said. Unagi knows very well she was lying, and Shinobu may have realized that too.

"You said something that peaked my interest but I didnt' really catch it. Say that last sentence one more time."

"What sentence?" Shinobu began a futile but valiant attempt to play dumb, hoping in vain to acco mplish something by it.

"You know very well what I'm talking about. Something about a ruckus and Jerry Springer."

"Well, I..." Shinobu trailed off. The poor girl was now feeling the heat. An iron was pressing down on her, and she was trying to push it back up. She did not want to talk about personal matters, especially not in class; it was not the right place to do so. However, Unagi was looking down at her, her eyes curious and demanding, with a grin that said "you'll spill it soon; I just need to apply a little more pressure". Even worse was the fact that more students heard what the frail Shinobu said and a small crowd began to gather around her. They did not get a clear message, but they had a feeling that she may know something about the legendary "flying man" of Hinata.

Shinobu looked all around her; a wall of curious, snooping faces surrounded her. She looked back at Unagi, still grinning, still waiting for an answer.

Unagi just cut down to the chase, now. "You know something about the 'flying man' of Hinata?"

"Flying man?"

"Yeah. You know the guy who's always flying across town, hence the name 'Flying Man'?"

"Umm..." Shinobu hated telling lies.

"I heard there's a monster in that house that throws him out of the house just for kicks!"

"That's bullshit!"

"I didn't make that up!"

"You probably did!"

"They say a cram school girl's responsible for it."

"That's even _more_ bullshit!"

Rumors began to bounce off the walls of faces, with Shinobu stuck in the middle of it all, getting hit by each one.

"How do you know?"

"I don't, but i'm damn sure that it wasn't a girl. No one could be that strong, and I mean _no one_!"

"I heard that there was a high school girl there with the strength of thirty thousand men."

"You too?"

"Not just me. A whole lot of people believe that, and claim they even saw it with their own eyes."

"Do they throw babies off of minivans?"

"Shut-up."

"Actually, it _was_ a schoolgirl! My sister caught it on tape!"

"Why isn't it on RealTV then? Did she send it there or not?"

"Not really. She just likes to watch it over and over again. She gets a real kick out of it."

"How can a mere girl four, maybe even three, years older than us contain that kind of power?"

"Maybe it's some secret Kung-Fu or something."

"Perhaps, she isn't even human."

"With that power, she couldn't be."

"Are you sure it's even a girl?"

"Sure of it! I saw it on tape with my sister! That girl has horrendous power, and a temper to go with it. She's a _monster_!"

"I definitely second that."

"You would think she had a violent history. Maybe she had a stoner of a mother who abused her or something."

"If I lived in a household like that, I'd go nuts, too."

And they kept talking and talking, as if Shinobu was not even there. But she was still sitting at her desk, surrounded by the crowd. With every rumor she heard, she was shot in the heart. The young girl tensed up all of her muscles and began to grow angry. Sweat ran down her face like tears from a million weeping widows after they lost their husbands at the same day. She balled both of her hands into tight fists and slanted her eyebrows, creating wrinkles in between them. She began to shake slightly; she was ready to explode. Too bad the students around her forgot that she was there.

"And she has to take out all that violence on an innocent, too. That's pathetic. She really needs some help."

"Hell, she's beyond help."

Shinobu slammed her fists on her desk and firmly stood up; she has had it! "**YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT NARU-SEMPAI! LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!**"

Time seemingly stopped after that. Everything fell into the hole of silence as the students were staring at her, with wide eyes, not even wanting to utter as much as a peep. They were frozen in their tracks, not making a move, not moving a muscle. For a few seconds, time seemingly stood still.

"So that's her name!" Unagi finally spoke, her already unbridled enthusiasm taken to a whole new level.

"Eep!" Shinobu covered her mouth, but it was too late; she has already made a fatal error on her part. She did not know what was going to happen next. One thing she was sure of though, was that just uttering out her name might subject her and all of the Hinata house to copious amounts of unwanted attention.

"I remember now," Unagi's grin got even wider. "Narusegawa Naru, the 'Ape-Girl' of Hinata."

"That's not her!" Shinobu made a measly attempt to cover it up. Again, she hated telling lies, and Unagi was able to pick that up quickly, so she called off Shinobu's fib.

"Yeah it is. I remember that name anywhere. So she's responsible for all that abuse. This information will prove to be valuable." She went over and patted Shinobu on the back. "You did good, my dear. You did good. Now that we know who it is, the word will spread like wildfire. Add to it the fact that my older sister loves this kind of stuff."

At that instant, Shinobu's eyes widened. Her heart took a massive blow...

_They'll all hate me..._

_I'm the reason they'll be stalking us. It's all my fault. I sold them out to the lions and left them for dead._

_My friends will hate me..._

_Naru-sempai will hate me..._

Blow by blow, blow by blow, blow by blow...

And Su still was not here, yet...

* * *

"It's ok, Shinobu." Keitaro said, shaking her violently in attempt to snap her out of it. "It's all right! It wasn't your fault. You couldn't help it!"

"I let my feelings cloud my better judgment," Shinobu replied. "I felt I had to defend Naru and I spoke out loud for her sake. I didn't even know that it would have such a painful long-term impact."

"That's ok." Keitaro repeated reassuringly. "At least someone was there to defend her. People can't just talk smack about her, and you knew that."

"Stop fooling yourself, Sempai. You know as well as I do that I made a fatal mistake and cost us a dear friend."

"I'm not fooling anyone. I know that feelings tend to get in the way quite often. We let our emotions run the show; sometimes we don't even know it. So you made a mistake; that's all right. It couldn't be helped."

"But Sempai-"

"But nothing." Keitaro put his right index finger on her lip, silencing her. "Wallowing on what happened before isn't going to help, either. What we can do is try to gather up all the pieces and put them back together ourselves. If you really feel that guilty, perhaps it's time you made up for it and put an end to this yourself, to atone for what you think you've done and the like; whining won't get you anywhere, and it sure won't stop anything, understand?"

"Sempai..."

"And we're going to help you, Shinobu. Just give us the word and we'll help you get this over with so we all can get back to normal, ok?"

"Sempai..."

"Do we have the green light, Shinobu?"

Shinobu paused for a moment. She had to think this over. After considering what Keitaro said, it did not take long until until she made a choice. She looked back up at him, taking in his smiling face.

"Sure, Sempai."

"That's good to hear, Shinobu. Let's get the others ready." He looked around and set his eyes on Motoko. "Now, the first thing we're going to do is search for Naru and straighten things out with her. Then, well deal with these kids, ok?"

"All right." It was a reluctant reply from the young girl.

(O)

"I need to talk to you!" Kitsune ran down the stairs and caught up with the girl in glasses. She turned her around and looked at her straight in the eyes, with her own wide open. "You got my e-mail, didn't you?"

"Oh yeah, we did. I know exactly what you're talking about."

"I had a feeling you would. I had a nagging voice telling me you bashers would be able to hack into it." Kitsune's expression grew more furious. The way the girl casually replied to her just pissed the fox off. "That wasn't yours to touch!"

"I know." Her tone was still sinisterly casual.

Kitsune knew damn well that she was openly mocking her, and she had trouble controlling her ego. "Then why did you do it? What the hell were you up to?"

"I figured after the outbreak of gossip last week, that if I had one of my buddies hack into the Hinata house's server and waited a little while, someone would have valuable information he/she would want to send over to a major television studio just to get rich."

"Damn you!" Kitsune grabbed her black wool vest underneath white-collared shirt. "Do you even know what forces you're dealing with here? Dammit! Naru's my best friend! I won't let you treat her like shit and get away with it!"

"If she's your best friend, then WHY DID YOU EVEN THINK OF EXPLOITING HER?" She simply smacked Kitsune's hand and freed herself. She sent a glare of her own back at the fox. "You just want the money don't you? Some friendship..."

"YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"Ouch --- This might turn ugly if I don't leave now. So I bid you goodbye for now." And just like that, it was over. The girl walked to the bottom of the steps and out of the fox's sight, still acting as casual as when that delightful conversation began.

kitsune never took her eyes off of her, and even after she left, she just glued them to the bottom of the steps, knowing full on that she was defeated. She tried so hard, only to be thrown to the ground and lying flat on her face. She hated this feeling with all her heart and she cringed in anger every second she thought about it.

But the girl beat her only because she was right; Kitsune made a bad move selling her out to Hollywood, and it was for her own selfish gain, nonetheless. She knew very well that what she did was wrong from the start, and that there would be dire consequences later on. The problem was that it did not really hit her until now, and her cheap attempt to cover it up by placing blame on someone else was thwarted with seemingly no effort. Defeated, she walked back up the steps, taking her psychological bruises with her.

To be continued

* * *

On the Next _Blondie Strikes Back_…

_Dual Face_

Naru was ambushed by a gang of fanatics and was about to unleash her power once again, only to have someone else save her from the zealots, and probably even herself. This endearing young woman took her in her own house, where she lived alone with her sister and boyfriend. Naru knew her very well, for it was her former academic rival...

Tamako Kanehara

-GYRAX


End file.
